An established player on the PDC ProTour, 32-year-old Dutch thrower Ron Meulenkamp is a familiar face and name within the world of darts.
The left-hander has had some excellent moments in his darting career so far including seven appearances at the World Darts Championships, five of which have come in the PDC.
We caught up with the Dutchman as we discussed a handful of different topics, such as his decision to move from the BDO to the PDC, and his thoughts on his start to the 2021 darting season.
Dutchman looked up to Barney growing up
Meulenkamp revealed how he got into darts growing up, and who his darting hero was. "My dad was one of the people who started a darts club in our town, so we had a board at home and at some point I started to play darts at home. Barney (Raymond Van Barneveld) was and still is my (darting) hero. He has made darts what it is today."
Ron started his career in the BDO before switching to the PDC, like many other dart players in 2014. He explained how the switch came about. "My sponsor offered me the chance to make the switch and I took it. The BDO was already a mess when I joined the PDC."
Meulenkamp had a positive start to life in the PDC and made his debut at the Alexandra Palace in the 2015 PDC World Darts Championship, he explained what the experience was like. "That was amazing. I was still young at the time, but it was still a special experience. I do miss them crowds (at the moment with Covid-19)."
On his day Meulenkamp is a real power scorer and a prolific double hitter. The Dutchman has taken some really impressive victories in his career so far, He revealed what game has stood out in his career so far. "I played a few great matches where the average went above the 107, 108 mark. But I prefer a match with lot of amazing checkouts. I just had a great game against Damon Heta. I was 5-3 down in a game where I already had a 167 checkout. I hit a 101 121 121 later on to win it. That felt amazing."
Moving on to 2021 so far, The Bomb has been in a good patch of form he offered his thoughts on his year so far. "Well, I'm very happy to play again. The first few (tournaments) were a bit nervy but the end of the super series and a steady UK Open gives me good confidence for the upcoming super series."
Meulenkamp back in action at Super Series
There are a lot of Dutch players currently on the PDC circuit, and Meulenkamp explained which players he is close to. "I get along great with the Belgian and Dutch players. Martijn Kleermaker from my sponsored team is a close friend but also Kim Huybrechts and Niels Zonneveld from the Hemeco darts team, they are also great friends."
Meulenkamp will be next in action at PDC Super Series 2 next week, which sees a field of 128 players compete at Players Championship 5-8 in Milton Keynes. You can watch the action on PDC TV, starting on Tuesday.